Policy & Practice: Briefing - Advice issued on delivering Children Act

So is this brand new material? Not exactly. With the pace and scale of change in services for children and young people there can be so many documents at different stages of the processes of consultation, legislation and implementation that it is sometimes hard to keep track of the status of various documents. What we have this month is the publication of four documents - another is on the way next January - that give guidance on implementing the provisions of the Children Act 2004, the legislation that underpins the Every Child Matters edifice.

What issues do they cover? The duty on agencies to co-operate, safeguarding welfare, the Children and Young Person's Plan and the roles of the director of children's services and lead member for children. We will focus here on the statutory guidance on inter-agency co-operation. There is now a duty on local authorities in England to promote co-operation between the authority and "relevant partners" to improve the well-being of all those under 18.